Help Choosing A desktop PC

Luckycharms_74

Hey everyone

I need some help regarding a new desktop PC. Should I get one off the shelf or buy a built one.

I prob need the following spec.

1. Bigger than 22" screen

2. More than 3MB RAM

3 Large hard drive over 300GB.

If any one has any specs there it would be mush appreciated.

Solitaire

What will the PC be used for? If its gaming or 3D/CAD it'll be own build, otherwise there'll probably be a deal to be done somewhere...

board_stiff

Hi,

You need to be a lot more specific than that.

What do you need the computer for?

If you are just a regular home pc user i.e. net browsing, creating microsoft word documents etc. then I think you may as well go direct for a Dell or visit one of the retailers.

However if you are into gaming or some other specific interest(maybe music/video editing) then I would definitely customise to ensure you get the required parts.

Also the other factor is budget. How much are you willing to spend?

I'm sure there are plenty of discussions on this topic knocking around if you do a search.

board_stiff

Solitaire wrote: »

What will the PC be used for? If its gaming or 3D/CAD it'll be own build, otherwise there'll probably be a deal to be done somewhere...

You beat me to the post

Therefore I second what you say!

the_syco

nslattery1974 wrote: »

2. More than 3MB RAM

It's been a long time since a PC was sold with less than 64MB of RAM, let alone 3MB...

Luckycharms_74

board_stiff wrote: »

Hi,

You need to be a lot more specific than that.

What do you need the computer for?

If you are just a regular home pc user i.e. net browsing, creating microsoft word documents etc. then I think you may as well go direct for a Dell or visit one of the retailers.

However if you are into gaming or some other specific interest(maybe music/video editing) then I would definitely customise to ensure you get the required parts.

Also the other factor is budget. How much are you willing to spend?

I'm sure there are plenty of discussions on this topic knocking around if you do a search.

Yeah sorry I should have stated what i need it for.

1. Online poker with large screen to multi table

2. Working with Photoshop

3. Microsoft Office

4. Also some work on Sound Forge audio editing


It wont be used for gaming

P.S. thesyco I ment 3GB RAM. Would not get far with 3MB

the_syco

nslattery1974 wrote: »

1. Online poker with large screen to multi table

LoL. Many GFX cards would support that: it wouldn't take much to support it, I'd say.

nslattery1974 wrote: »

3. Microsoft Office

Runs on not much.

nslattery1974 wrote: »

Also some work on Sound Forge audio editing

You'll probably want a fast HDD, maybe 10,000RPM, rather than the standard 7,200RPM? When you say "some", you mean hobby, or work? Hobby, maybe a 7,200RPM disk, work, get a 10,000RPM disk, IMO.

nslattery1974 wrote: »

2. Working with Photoshop

With a 22" monitor, I'd say you'll need something like a 8600GT.

IIRC, Photoshop depends heavily on the CPU, as opposed to the GPU.

Look at http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-q3-2008/Photoshop-CS-3,826.html for more info on what CPU's are seen to be good for Photoshop.

As for GFX cards, ensure you have one with DVI connections, which supports a high resolution. Likewise with the monitor.

An old thread, but it talks about which gfx card to get for Photoshop: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-248267_15_0.html

TerrorFirmer

Video card isn't needed, you can use a mobo with onboard video perfectly fine, though the obvious issue there being if you plan dual linking or something, you would need a separate card. Any 30E card with dual DVI would be fine though for that purpose, and if you're just using a single monitor onboard video is fine for Photoshop.

300GB would not be considered large these days (though personally, I'm still using a 250GB!), 4GB of Ram is extremely cheap, and Quad Cores are very affordable and yield excellent performance in the sort of applications you're talking about.

Self build will probably save you money in this instance, generally anything from the likes of Dell that features anything remotely high end in terms of CPU, GPU etc carries a premium, though they do offer great value in the lower end and sometimes, via special offer or the outlet, in performance machines. For example, something like this would be fine:

Luckycharms_74

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Video card isn't needed, you can use a mobo with onboard video perfectly fine, though the obvious issue there being if you plan dual linking or something, you would need a separate card. Any 30E card with dual DVI would be fine though for that purpose, and if you're just using a single monitor onboard video is fine for Photoshop.

300GB would not be considered large these days (though personally, I'm still using a 250GB!), 4GB of Ram is extremely cheap, and Quad Cores are very affordable and yield excellent performance in the sort of applications you're talking about.

Self build will probably save you money in this instance, generally anything from the likes of Dell that features anything remotely high end in terms of CPU, GPU etc carries a premium, though they do offer great value in the lower end and sometimes, via special offer or the outlet, in performance machines. For example, something like this would be fine:

Hi Terror

Many thanks for the components needed. What website is that from Komplett??. I presume I have to buy all cables for these parts (Monitor, Power, etc). I would also need a network adaptor for wireless access. If down the line I wanted to run 2 screens off this PC would that work ok. Any ideas on what I should pay to get this assembled.

Thanks Again

TerrorFirmer

You should assemble it yourself, it's a lot easier then you might think. Yes, from Komplett, I just use them as standard reference but as with everything, shop around, that was just to give you a base idea.

I presume I have to buy all cables for these parts (Monitor, Power, etc).

Everything comes with the requisite cables for use.

I would also need a network adaptor for wireless access.

Wireless cards are very cheap, you could throw something like this one in for a very small price, or pick up a 2nd hand one on the likes of adverts.ie for about 10 euro.

If down the line I wanted to run 2 screens off this PC would that work ok.

For that you would need a standalone video card with dual dvi, but the cheapest one would suffice, like this.

Effluo

It seems to me that the benchmarking link that syco posted earlier on should be considered a bit more!

It shows that dual-cores out do the quad-cores in photoshop.
Which is the only intensive program that nslattery wants to be able to use.

I put this on from hardwareversand.de

Article-No.ArticleAvailability Delivery price HV20E850DE Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Box 6144Kb, LGA775, 64bit
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 168,77 € HV1128ITDE Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L ,Intel P43, ATX, PCI-Express
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 70,22 € HV20EP96DE 4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL5, PC6400/800
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 42,78 € HV20EP96DE 4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL5, PC6400/800
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 42,78 € HV203FAKDE Coolermaster Elite 330 ohne Netzteil schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 29,95 € HVR450CHDE Corsair HX450W 450 Watt
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 64,76 € HV20CUIBDE Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 8,25 € HV1024SSDE Sapphire HD 4350 512MB DDR2 PCI-Express
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch from 2009-04-30 30,43 € HV13WC65DE WD Caviar SE16 500GB SATA II 16MB
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 49,02 € HV207SFSDE Samsung SH-223F bare schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 25,13 € HV2124HSDE Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 234,08 € Sum:766,17 €
2) 766,17 €

They build it for you for 20 euro
And then that's 30 euro delivery.

Hitman Actual

Regarding the monitor for poker purposes, make sure and get one with a resolution of 1920x1200 (i.e. 16:10 and not 16:9). Some sites don't have resizeable tables (iPoker for one, iirc) so table overlap might be an issue. Even the difference between 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 may be an annoying distraction.

For the GCARD, make sure and get a dual-output card in case you decide to add a second monitor at a later date, although pretty much all cards are dual-output these days anyway.

Also, be wary about skimping too much on the wireless card- do a bit of research and get a reliable, reputable one. Or if possible, try to have your broadband router close to the PC and connect directly using a LAN cable. Disconnections in €1K pots will do your head in!

Luckycharms_74

Hitman Actual wrote: »

Regarding the monitor for poker purposes, make sure and get one with a resolution of 1920x1200 (i.e. 16:10 and not 16:9). Some sites don't have resizeable tables (iPoker for one, iirc) so table overlap might be an issue. Even the difference between 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 may be an annoying distraction.

For the GCARD, make sure and get a dual-output card in case you decide to add a second monitor at a later date, although pretty much all cards are dual-output these days anyway.

Also, be wary about skimping too much on the wireless card- do a bit of research and get a reliable, reputable one. Or if possible, try to have your broadband router close to the PC and connect directly using a LAN cable. Disconnections in €1K pots will do your head in!

Thanks for the info Hitman, esp regarding the monitors for iPoker . But I think in my case disconnections in €1 pots is even worse

Luckycharms_74

Effluo wrote: »

It seems to me that the benchmarking link that syco posted earlier on should be considered a bit more!

It shows that dual-cores out do the quad-cores in photoshop.
Which is the only intensive program that nslattery wants to be able to use.

I put this on from hardwareversand.de

Article-No.ArticleAvailability Delivery price HV20E850DE Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Box 6144Kb, LGA775, 64bit
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 168,77 € HV1128ITDE Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L ,Intel P43, ATX, PCI-Express
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 70,22 € HV20EP96DE 4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL5, PC6400/800
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 42,78 € HV20EP96DE 4096MB DDR2 Corsair Twin2X CL5, PC6400/800
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 42,78 € HV203FAKDE Coolermaster Elite 330 ohne Netzteil schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 29,95 € HVR450CHDE Corsair HX450W 450 Watt
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 64,76 € HV20CUIBDE Ultron Cardreader 75-in-1, intern, schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 8,25 € HV1024SSDE Sapphire HD 4350 512MB DDR2 PCI-Express
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch from 2009-04-30 30,43 € HV13WC65DE WD Caviar SE16 500GB SATA II 16MB
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 49,02 € HV207SFSDE Samsung SH-223F bare schwarz
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 25,13 € HV2124HSDE Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
incl. VAT and excl. shipping costs
ready for dispatch 234,08 € Sum:766,17 €
2) 766,17 €

They build it for you for 20 euro
And then that's 30 euro delivery.

There seems to be a couple of links wrong there are 2 for the Corsair HX450W 450 Watt which I think should be 2 different products. And the Screen is the wrong price thats all

Effluo

If you're interested in getting this.

1. go to hardwareversand.de
2. click on Englisch(top left hand corner)
3. click on pc konfigurator

Click on Basic system on left hand side of the screen and the rest is easy peasy!

Luckycharms_74

Effluo wrote: »

If you're interested in getting this.

1. go to hardwareversand.de
2. click on Englisch(top left hand corner)
3. click on pc konfigurator

Click on Basic system on left hand side of the screen and the rest is easy peasy!

168,77 € HV1128ITDE Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L ,Intel P43, ATX, PCI-Express

Hi Effluno
Just gonna order that pc build tomorrow. I clicked on some of the links but they are not valid.The above link is one of them. Would u mind redoing the links please. Or just tell me what i need to order and I will do it myself.

Thanks